It was a stunner: Even President Obama likely had Ross and Rachel advancing to the Final Four in his Greatest TV Couple of All Time bracket. But that’s why they play the games… and the popularity contests that skew towards current favorites. Like Marshall and Lily of How I Met Your Mother, deserved darlings who upset the presumed No. 1 seed with a little help from their friends. The couple joins Kurt and Blaine from Glee, The Doctor and Rose from Doctor Who, and sentimental favorite Lucy and Ricky from I Love Lucy (who’ve made it this far without a grassroots social-media presence).

Check out our full bracket here and vote in the polls below to determine who will move on to the championship round. Now, the Final Four remaining couples battle it out below!

We’ve watched Ted tell the story of his search for the would-be mother of his children for nearly eight seasons, but How I Met Your Mother’s greatest couple actually didn’t have to search very hard for one another at all. Marshall and Lily’s tale began in college – she was an art freak and he loved, um, sandwiches. For both Ted and the audience, the couple quickly became the ideal for that right-in-front-of-your-face/call-just-to-say-I-love-you romance – the kind of love where you know the search is over.

The ease at which they came together didn’t make them any less appreciative of what they have, though. It could be argued, actually, that in addition to being one of TV’s greatest couples, they’re undoubtedly the steamiest. We’re talking kitchen-floor romps and kinky-bedroom happenings, people.

Love is more than just sex, though. It’s the tough stuff that separates the good couples from the all-time-great ones. And in the last few seasons of the show, Marshall and Lily have had to deal with the death of Marshall’s father, Lily’s problems with fertility, and the struggles of parenting their son, Marvin. Through it all, they stood by each other, were each other’s shoulder to cry on, and somehow, managed to make us laugh, too.

Glee has been credited with creating groundbreaking television, and that’s largely thanks to Kurt and Blaine’s relationship. The Fox show didn’t make its teenage gay characters marginalized outcasts or peripheral best friends; Kurt and Blaine are front and center with their own romantic storyline, one with all the on-and-off-again, all the ups and downs, and all the drama and sweetness expected of any TV couple.

Initially, Kurt Hummel worried that he’d never find love or anything close to it as long as he was in Lima, Ohio. As far as he knew, there wasn’t another openly gay person his age in his entire town. But one town away was Blaine Anderson, whom Kurt met when he was sent to spy on Blaine’s a cappella group, the Warblers, and who eventually called Kurt “the love of my life” after he transfered to Dalton Academy to get away from the bullies of McKinley High and became a Warbler himself.

Their love story can largely be traced through songs, from “When I Get You Alone” to “Blackbird,” where Blaine – who had earlier told Kurt he wanted to be just friends – realized he’d fallen for his fellow Warbler. As Kurt crooned, “All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise,” plenty of fans echoed the sentiment. There was the first kiss, the first “I love you,” and even the first time.

But then came the first break-up. They had tried the long-distance thing, but when Blaine visited Kurt in the Big Apple, he confessed he hooked up with someone else in Lima. But Glee has made it clear that these two haven’t been able to move on yet, perhaps most touchingly in the recent episode “Girls (and Boys) on Film,” when a movie night at Rachel and Kurt’s New York loft yielded the choice of Moulin Rouge!, which got Kurt daydreaming about singing “Come What May” – the film’s soaring love theme that Blaine and Kurt once said they’d like to sing to each other at their wedding.

Darren Criss, who plays Blaine, has said that Klaine are Glee’s Ross and Rachel. They complement one another perfectly, and it’s not just because Blaine’s tenor and Kurt’s countertenor make for some music magic. They both come off confident, but they both have their moments of doubt and fear. In those moments, they always know how to hold each other up. So the seasons are still changing for this sweet but strong pair, but we’re confident they’ll be able to work things out, come what may. – Emily Rome